Paradise of Light and Shadow
by wystery
Summary: Allen Walker's a pretty normal guy until he's whisked away to a spirit world by his best friend Lavi. Now, there's supposedly a huge war going on between the Noahs and the Order, and what's this about a royal family? The fight for the throne over all spirits is fierce, and Allen's caught up in a whirlwind of mistaken identities, past love, and facing the past he left behind. AU.


Disclaimer: Hoshino Katsura owns DGM and its characters!

'Single quote means thoughts'

"Double quotes means dialogue"

_Italics means flashback_

CHAPTER 1: Predetermined Decision

_"Allen, you must run!"_

_"Father! How could I?! Leaving you here…"_

_"Go! _Now. _It is not just about me and you, Allen, but the life of all of those who trust in us to take care of them."_

_Choking back a sob, the boy could only curse the tears obscuring his last look at the face of his father. Gentle fingers ran through his hair, and the tears only streamed faster._

_"…Father…"_

_"Allen, I love you. Promise me one thing…keep on walking, okay?"_

_"…I promise."_

* * *

'It was that dream again…'

Sitting up and wiping the still-fresh tears off his face, a young man took several deep breaths to steady himself before releasing a particularly long-winded sigh and flopping back onto his pillow.

Having that dream always seemed to exhaust him, and today the dream was even fresher in his mind than before. The figures and scene of that dream were always infuriatingly nebulous, so familiar yet completely foreign. No matter how hard he searched his memory, the identity of the person who appeared in that dream would always elude him.

Stretching out his left hand before his face, the young man allowed himself a brief glance down the length of his arm before turning his head in disgust. The inky black seemed to mock him as it enveloped his entire arm, all the way up to his shoulder. Quickly, he reached for his gloves, feeling their coolness slide into their usual place on his hands.

That arm had always been the subject of an endless flow of teasing, mocking, and disgust from whoever saw it, along with the star-shaped scar carved into his forehead, and his pure white hair. They were the ever present disfigurations that would always mark him as the freak-show, the odd one out. It was these traits that made him easy fodder for his classmates' unrelentless teasing.

One would think that a college-aged student would have more self dignity than to resort to something like bullying. He guessed things really didn't change from high school to college.

Thankfully, it was a Saturday, which meant he could spend the day with his best friend and not the people who made his life miserable.

Tossing off his covers and sliding out of bed, he walked over to his dresser with a yawn.

Crisp brown dress pants and a white dress shirt were waiting for him on a chair, and after sliding on a sleeveless vest, he tied his signature striped ribbon around his neck. Even though it was the weekend, he believed in dressing impeccably in all circumstances; after all, you know what they say: dress to impress.

Walking over to his puny bathroom, a look to the mirror revealed bright silver eyes peering back at him. He inspected the neatness of his hair.

'…Eh, it'll have to do.'

He had tried dyeing his hair with every brand of hair dye the nearest supermarket had to offer, but none of them could turn his hair a shade different from its natural white. Turning on the faucet, a spurt of water splattered him with ice cold water.

'Dang these faulty dorm appliances...!'

So much for his "impeccable" appearance. He kicked the sink, only earning a throbbing toe and more water in his face. Grr.

Giving up on trying for a semblance of organization, our irked, wet protagonist plopped down next to his computer. An alert popped up and he clicked on it, opening up a video chat with Lavi Bookman, a former penpal of his and also his best friend.

Lines connecting, a grinning face and a mop of red hair fill his screen.

"Yo, Allen, my man! How bad is dorm life sucking?"

"More than usual. Crappy sinks are the bane of my existence."

"Never fear, Allen babe, a very sexy man has a nicely toned shoulder for you to cry on." Lavi tacks on a playful smirk for emphasis as Allen's lips tug upwards at the corners, eyes rolling.

"Please, don't flatter yourself, dearest Mr. Bookman. The only thing that I could cry about right now is the explosion that is your room. Ever heard of that thing called, um, _cleaning_?"

Looking back at his room, Lavi only shrugs and replies, "Hey, what can I say. It's got personality."

Allen giggles, causing Lavi to say, "Giggling is _so_ not manly Allen! How are you ever going to find a girl when you practically are one?! Or maybe that doesn't matter, if you swing the other way…?"

Lavi's eyebrows waggle suggestively.

"Lavi! Saturday morning is _not_ the time for a coming-out-of-the-closet ceremony! My sexuality is of no concern as of now," Allen replies with a sniff. Lavi grins when he catches the blush Allen tries to surreptitiously cover.

Lavi glances out a window, and suddenly, Lavi's expression turns into that of uncharacteristic seriousness. Allen looks at him worriedly.

"You alright, Lavi?"

"Yeah…Allen…you trust me right?"

"Of course. You know that."

Lavi ran a hand through his perpetually messy red hair before saying, "I've been meaning to ask you to do something for a while, and I think it's about time I actually get around to asking you. I just keep pushing it off… but things have escalated really fast really quickly, and I need you to believe me. I know it's going to be a drastic change but you've always been adaptable and friendly and you'll be fine and I'll answer any questions you have 'cause you'll definitely be confused but trust me-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Allen holds a hand up to his screen, "Slow down there, Lavi. You're starting to rant, and I don't know what you want me to do, but I'll do it if it's important enough for you to get all like that."

"Ah, sorry, Allen, I'm just nervous about how things will go…" looking at Allen with sudden calmness, Lavi asked, "Would you believe me if I told you that you're very, very different from the people around you?"

"Yes, Lavi, we've been over this – people freak out when then see me; I'm the weirdo with white hair 60 years before my time and cult tattoos up my left arm?"

"No, not that! I mean, if you were a…er…completely different…how should I say this…_species_…from them?"

"Sometimes I really feel like one with the way they treat me."

Allen was starting to become a bit annoyed. Was this rub salt in Allen's wounds day or something?

Lavi sighed before saying, "What I mean is, do you ever notice how things that seem totally regular to other people don't apply to you? For example, have you ever noticed that your hair doesn't change color with human hair dye?"

"How do you know that I've tried to dye my ha-"

"Or that you don't need to eat food, and you have to hold yourself back in gym class?"

"Are you stalki-"

"Shush! Lemme talk. Allen, you aren't really meant to be here. You tell me about your dreams, the ones that seem to come out of a fairytale. What if…they're real? What if…they're your memories?"

"..."

"You tell me almost every time we chat about how dissatisfied you are with your life, about how you have this feeling that you belong somewhere else. You have a place, Allen, and that place is far, far away from here. Would you be willing to give up this half-assed life of yours for something a lot bigger and more meaningful than you could ever imagine?"

A moment of silence ensued before Allen said in a quiet tone, "I…need time to think it over. How do I know what you're saying is real? We've never actually met in real life, so I hope you can understand why I'm a bit hesitant, even though you're my best friend."

A flash of hurt passed across Lavi's face but the look was replaced with a grin as quickly as it had come.

"I get whatcha mean, Allen-buddy. I'd be the same way. Here, how about this: to fix to whole 'you're technically a stranger' thing, I'll stop by your dorm and we can hang out or something tomorrow. We don't live all that far away now, even though back in high school when we were penpals you lived across the country."

"That sounds good. Thanks for making time, I know you're super busy with your archaeology major."

"No prob, man. I gotta run now, I've got class soon. See you, cutes!"

A smile reappeared on Allen's face as he said, "Later, Lavi!"

Turning off his monitor, Allen turned around in his swivel chair, thinking about Lavi's offer.

Would he give up what little he had now for whatever Lavi had in store? Is there anything to even give up? Every day in his life followed the same routine: wake up, go to classes, go to work, play piano, chat with Lavi, go to bed. Day after day, it was the same thing. He didn't mind the security of his simple routine, but a times, it bored him to tears.

Wasn't life supposed to be meaningful? What did he have to lose? Sure, Lavi could be a kidnapper or creeper or something, what were the chances of Lavi doing something like that? He'd known Lavi after meeting him through a penpal project at his school, and he had been 15 then. They hit it off so well that for the next five years, they'd chat pretty much every day. If he didn't trust Lavi, who was there to trust?

He had no siblings, and was an orphan for as long as he could remember. A man had come to visit his orphanage one day and heard him playing piano, and the next day Allen found himself attending a prestigious music school. He was given free room and board because he was an orphan, and his classmates never let him forget that fact.

Now pursuing a music theory major, Allen didn't know where he wanted to go after college. Piano was his one solace, something that could take away the burning words and sores from the world as he lost himself within a melody.

He had only just been able to afford a keyboard after working two part time jobs. It was a nice one though; he had been saving up for a while.

Allen walked over to his keyboard. Turning it on, he decided to play one of his favorite cool-down pieces, one whose notes were already engraved in his mind from playing it so many times. Debussy's 'Clair de Lune' was its name – a lovely name for a lovely piece.

The dorm was empty today, empty save the lingering notes of a sweet melody at Allen's fingertips. Letting the last chord ring for a few seconds, Allen opened his eyes, and decided that Lavi was to be trusted, he had told Lavi himself. He would hear Lavi out, at the very least, without immediately ruling his words as complete nonsense.

Allen grabbed a jacket off its hook and slipped it on, grabbing his keys as he left his dorm. It was time for him to go and work as a T.A. at the freshmen's music theory class.

He decided to continue his day as usual, after all, it was pointless to sit around all day thinking about Lavi's offer like a girl trying to decide if it would be better to order one low-fat scoop of sherbet or a banana split.

Okay, that comparison was a tad irrelevant, but that's not the point. Allen was a young man of responsibility, so he would dutifully go about his day like the biggest choice he had ever had to make in his life wasn't looming over his head.

Yeah.

* * *

"Lavi! Why did you give him the freedom of decision with this matter? You know that either way he does not have a choice about whether or not he returns."

"Look, Gramps, I wanted him to come back willingly! It'd be a breach of trust if I were to just magically whisk him away to somewhere he has no recollection of!"

"We do not have time for formalities, Lavi, postpone his return any longer and we may not have enough time before things become too perilous."

"…I know. It's just that…he's being tossed into all this without a warning."

"He was not "tossed into this", Lavi, he was already a part of this from the start. He has merely taken a respite of sorts from the matters at hand. It's high time he continue on his destined path. It may take him a while to adjust to his surroundings, but that's your job – to make his transition as smooth as possible."

"It's not only a matter of it being my "job" or not, but as his friend, I want to give him just a week to think it over. I promise he'll be back in a week at the most."

"…I will hold you to your word. Do not fail me, Lavi."

"Gah, so serious. Alright, alright, I'll see to it."

_xXx_

A.N: Hey! Wys here. I've actually mustered up the willpower to start a multi-chaptered fic! Whoot! A prompt came to me sometime ago, and it actually looks like it might be able to get somewhere. I'll try my best to update regularly, but if you take a look at my very sad profile, the chances of that happening are slim. Never fear, though, I like this enough to want to continue! Reviews are encouraging too, hint hint wink wink ;)


End file.
